30 CANNON STREET GIVEN PROTECTED BUILDING STATUS
ICONIC OFFICE BLOCK CONSTRUCTED IN GRC NEARLY 40 YEARS AGO LISTED AS A PROTECTED BUILDING BY ENGLISH HERITAGE
30 Cannon Street is well known within the GRC industry as being the first building constructed in the UK using Glass Reinforced Concrete Cladding panels. Because of this and its unique design, only possible with the use of lightweight concrete cladding, it has been listed by English Heritage as a protected building.
Designed by architects Whinney, Son and Austin Hall the building was constructed as the UK offices for French bank Credit Lyonaisse in 1976. The GRC panels were produced using simultaneous spray process still used today to designs produced by Ove Arup recognising the unique properties of the material.
The building originally had a design life of 25 years however an investigation by Arup in 2002 showed the GRC cladding to be still functional and certainly capable of providing many more years of service. This underlines all the testing done by various bodies since the 1970s that indicate correctly designed, manufactured and installed GRC will have an indefinite lifespan.
Cannon Street demonstrates exactly how GRC is becoming increasingly popular in both the UK and overseas with many major new projects featuring the material.